Just three days after returning to Earth, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik hopped on a video chat with Jared Polin, who asked him all about what it's like taking pictures in space. The resulting interview is fascinating from the first question to the last.

NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station will get some new camera gear to play with this week. The first ten Nikon D5 DSLRs to go to space launched yesterday, and are due to arrive at the ISS on Tuesday.

NASA's Juno spacecraft recently captured the its closest photos yet of the so-called 'Great Red Spot': the planet's massive storm that's been raging for the past 350 years in the planet's southern hemisphere.

UGC 1810 is a 'Wildly Interacting Galaxy', locked in battle with a smaller galactic neighbor, roughly 300 million light years away. It's expected to devour its challenger some time in the next billion years.

The Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2017 competition is set to open next week, offering space photographers the chance to have their work judged by a picture editor from NASA as well as to win the top prize of £10,000. Read more

NASA has successfully tested a camera that uses multiple frames of different exposures to create HDR video. The demo of a rocket test shows that the dynamic range provided is enough to capture plumes of exhaust fire and the surrounding area at the same time. Read more

NASA astronaut Jeff Williams posted a video detailing some of the equipment he uses to capture Earth from the ISS. So what kind of specialized gear does one use in space? Turns out the crew uses 'regular photography equipment' like the Nikon D4. Read more

In an interview for Adobe's blog, NASA has revealed some of the processes its scientists use to transform technical data into images that the rest of the world can appreciate and understand. From simple tasks, such as straightening and cropping, to compositing multiple layers of scientifically calculated color, the agency uses programs including Adobe Photoshop to interpret the sometimes quite abstract images sent back to Earth from devices such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Mars rover. Read more

NASA has turned to a process devised in 1864 to help it measure shockwaves created by supersonic aircraft flight. The method, schlieren photography, was invented by German scientist August Toepler to observe the effect of objects moving through transparent media, such as water or air. Read more

Over the last week or so, images from the New Horizons mission have been arriving back at Earth as the probe begins the 16-month task of returning data from its July 14th Pluto flyby. Take a look at the imaging systems responsible for the impressive photos of the dwarf planet. Read more

If $180,000 seems a bit steep for the Canon 1200mm f/5.6L lens B&H is currently offering in its used department, then perhaps this $33,500 NASA 2540mm f/8 lens on eBay sounds a bit more reasonable. That's twice the focal length for a fifth of the price! Read more

In a unique spin on the typical Gigapan panorama we've come to know and love, the company teamed up with NASA on Earth Day this year for something big - an image comprised of self-portraits captured by citizens all over the world. When zoomed out, it resembles an image of Earth from space. The final product has been released, with submissions coming in from every continent. Take a look

More than 50 years after the satellites that captured the first high-res images of the moon plunged to the surface and were destroyed, a Wired article tells the story of a group of people that found the tapes after they ended up in storage in California. Re-engineering the old drives capable of reading the tapes, they've recovered these historically significant images. Learn more

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying an unlit Olympic torch and three astronauts blasted off to the International Space Station on Thursday ahead of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. On Saturday the ISS crew will take the torch made for the Sochi games on a historic spacewalk. NASA photographer Bill Ingalls was there to document the launch. See gallery

Austrian photography enthusiast Christopher Malin has produced a short film featuring time-lapse photography taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Captured with several Nikon D3S cameras, these sequences make for a unique and compelling view of the Earth and its surrounding environment. The film also includes a first hand account of the considerable challenges of photographing from space.

While we're stuck down here on earth, NASA's Curiosity rover is currently trundling around on the surface of Mars, mapping the terrain and analyzing rocks. This week, Curiosity took time out from its busy schedule to snap an arms-length self-portrait, showing the rover in situ, in Gale Crater - 140 million miles from home. The composite image is made up of 55 high-resolution images, taken using its MAHLI camera, which is mounted on the end of a robotic arm. Click through for more details and a link to the full-resolution image.

A number of factors led to the use of 2MP sensors in the main imaging cameras used on NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, says the project manager responsible for their development. The slow data rates available for broadcasting images back to Earth and the team's familiarity with that family of sensors played a part, says Malin Space Science Systems' Mike Ravine, but the biggest factor was the specifications being fixed as far back as 2004. Multi-shot panoramas will see the cameras deliver high-res images, he explains, but not the 3D movies Hollywood director James Cameron had wanted.

NASA's Curiosity rover vehicle, that landed on Mars on August 6th, has sent back its first color images of the planet's dusty yellow/orange landscape. The image was taken with the camera on the rover's still retracted robotic arm, from behind the dust shield designed to protect the camera. The dust shield will be removed, promising better images, once the dust kicked-up by its landing has settled. This camera, known as MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager), is primarily intended for examining close-up items. Still better images should come once the two Mastcams start sending back images.

German videographer Michael König has compiled a breathtaking HD video from footage shot from the International Space Station. The original video clips, that König has processed and set to music, were created from a series of time-lapse stills of the Earth at night and include footage of Aurora Borealis and Australis. Viewing the original still images on NASA's 'The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth' website reveals they were shot with a Nikon D3S with 17-35mm F2.8 and 14-24mm F2.8 lenses (via Daily Mail).

Nikon has announced a number of its products including the Nikon D3S, D3X DSLRs and telephoto lenses will be used in the Russian segment of the International Space Station. The company says that no modifications will be made to any of the products and they will join the existing Nikon film and digital cameras/lenses used by the astronauts working in the segment. In a press release the company also mentions the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had ordered 11 D3S bodies and 7 AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lenses for use in the Space Shuttle and ISS in 2009.